Crown Royal

Doing some further reading on the feeding of the British Royal Navy, I came upon an interesting little symbol: a crown, "GR" and arrow. Come to find out, it was the symbol used for stamping government property.

By the way, the "broad arrow", or pheon, is the type of arrow with a flat barbed head, and traditionally used in heraldry in England. With the establishing of an Ordinance Board back in King Henry VIII's time, government property was stamped with the "King's Mark", in this case the arrow. Known as "crow's feet" to sailors, it is one of the oldest trademarks still in use for the original purpose.

Further, the pheon was carried before the king by the sergeant-at-arms, hence the idea of protection, and guarding. The Crown obviously is a royal sign, and the GR stands, in this case, for King George III (George Rex).

Funny how much significance is conveyed in a small space.

N. A. M. Rodger, who wrote, "The Wooden World", makes mention of the exorbitant cost of salt, cured meat, dried peas and fruit like raisins, and cheese, at the time, and so rationing was extremely important, as was the protection of these goods. So much so that even the hard tack biscuits were stamped as property of the Crown!


Below see some examples of government property. Can you see the crow's foot?!